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Wednesday, 7 December 2011

Thinking outside of the (x)box: the future of TV

I travelled to that London on Sunday to attend an event hosted by Xbox to learn all about their latest Xbox Live innovation. It was, how shall we say, interesting.

The words bizarre, surreal and downright bonkers spring to mind but we were told it was all designed to make us think 'outside of the box' and it did that in spades.

I'll give you a little taster of what we experienced. We were invited to the Supperclub in London.

Where we were shown to our beds....

Then a leather-clad minx starting dancing to the Avengers theme tune.

..before she started playing her electric guitar with an angle-grinder, as you do....

Next up was a tall drag queen who undressed down to his shorts before 'showering' and then doing acrobatics up and down the shower curtain. Got that?

Note the rubber duck on the mat

All of this was going on whilst the music from Psycho was playing, and when the stabbing sound came on he started spurting 'blood' from his mouth before falling to the floor. He was dead for a good while before getting up and walking off. It was sort of Psycho meets Cirque du Soleil in a dress. Then, the food....

Mmmmm...macaroons. Look nice don't they? What if I told you they had fish and seafood fillings? Bleuugghh!

Followed by our real pudding served in a cat-food bowl. Nice.

All washed down with a glass or two of prosecco. Well it would be rude not to.

As you can see it wasn't your average Sunday afternoon, not by a long chalk.

So, why did we need to think outside the box? Because suddenly the box that 57 millions users worldwide have is about to be upgraded for free.

With the new Xbox 360 experience, entertainment is now more intuitive with the launch of Bing on Xbox, which lets customers search entertainment services on Xbox using.... their voices.

Last year, Kinect for Xbox 360 revolutionised controller-free entertainment by letting you use your body and voice to play your favourite games and entertainment, turning you into the controller. This year, the power of Kinect combined with the search intelligence of Bing is turning your voice into the ultimate remote control. With Bing on Xbox, you can use your voice to effortlessly find the games, movies, TV shows and music you want and discover the best offerings on Xbox LIVE, by simply saying what you’re searching for. You say it, Xbox finds it. It’s that easy.

From Christmas, in addition to offering the best blockbuster and Kinect games, Xbox 360 consoles are set to deliver live and on-demand TV shows, movies, videos, sports, music and news, becoming the best device to experience all your entertainment. TV and movie fans can instantly stream live television via our current UK TV partner, Sky, as well as enjoy a variety of fantastic content from the likes of AlloCiné (Screenrush),blinkbox, Channel 4, Channel 5, Crackle, Dailymotion, LOVEFiLM, MSN Video, MUZU.TV, YouTube and Zune, as well as, in 2012, the BBC.

About Xbox LIVE

Xbox LIVE is the online entertainment service for your Xbox 360, connecting you to an ever-expanding world of games, movies, TV, music, sports and social entertainment. Xbox LIVE lets you play the best games, enjoy one of the world’s largest on-demand libraries on any console, listen to millions of songs and share the fun with friends around the world. Xbox LIVE is also the exclusive home of controller-free online entertainment through Kinect, making your Xbox 360 more intuitive and interactive than ever before. With an active community of nearly 35 million people across 35 countries, Xbox LIVE, together with Xbox 360, provides you with instant access to the entertainment you want, shared with the people you care about, wherever you are.